When Zhou Yizhi opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Lu Jiayu, and those miserable eyes were looking at him nervously. Seeing that he woke up, he shouted excitedly: "Finally woke up, I'm really afraid that you will have an accident." Yizhi, thank you, Mr. Zhang! He's delayed the train for you! ”

"Oh? Chief Zhang? Only then did Zhou Yizhi notice that he was sitting cross-legged on the bed. There was a man behind him who was pressing a hand on his back, and he could feel the warmth of that hand through his clothes. At the same time, I also thought that I fainted at the train station, and I must have been rescued by this chief, and I thought that I was still kind to my Chinese compatriots. Said gratefully, "Chief Zhang, thank you so much!" ”

"Mr. Zhou, you don't have to be polite, everyone will inevitably have a short horse stool when they go out." The officer said mildly, and his hand did not stop, "Miss Lu has already told me about your situation." I have opened up the bloodline for you for the time being, but to eradicate the blockage of your heart veins, you must keep the refining qi running in the bloodline for a long time, and there is really no way to complete it in a short period of time. If I don't have something important to rush back to Chongqing, I'll stay with you—"

"It is a great luck that Chief Meng Zhang saved his life, and I am very grateful to him. Since the chief has important things to do, he will never dare to delay. Zhou Yizhi listened to the officer's words and hurriedly became polite, and the hope that had just risen in his heart sank again.

"Hear me out! Since I have met you, I will naturally try my best to eliminate your illness. What I mean is that the next step is to guide you to regulate your own pranayama and qi veins, which is what people generally call Xiao Zhou Tian (1) luck, you need to run for more than one hour every day, so that the refining qi in your body will not disappear. After a long time, it not only eliminates the obstasis, but also strengthens the physical fitness. The officer's voice was not loud, but it exuded a powerful deterrent effect.

"Yes, yes, thank you, sir! The sir's life-saving grace is inscribed in the fifth inscription. Zhou Yizhi's heart was filled with strong excitement again. I thought that if I had encountered this person's qigong treatment method earlier, I would not have to suffer for decades, and I would not have to travel to Western Europe to almost die. I couldn't help but look back gratefully, "Sir, are you using qigong?" Can I learn it? ”

"It's not Qigong. It's just pranayama luck, which is similar to Taoist meditation. The officer said lightly, and his other hand was also pressed on Zhou Yizhi's shoulder, "Don't talk now, empty your mind and calm your heart." The eyes look at the nose, the nose looks at the mouth, the mouth looks at the heart, the heart is at ease, and the luck is free. Freedom is the dantian, which is the place where the airflow in your body is floating. You try to follow this breath as much as possible, and running a lap is a small week. I'll walk slowly first, you have to remember the running position, and after two laps, you have to slowly control the ...... yourself."

Zhou Yizhi had never heard of luck pranayama before, let alone thought about learning luck by himself, of course, he didn't understand the meridian acupuncture points. I had to memorize the position first according to the position guided by the officer, because the speed was slower and the second lap would be able to predict the passing place. Although I don't understand the names of the acupuncture points in Dantian, Perineum, and Weilu, I know the general direction. Gradually, I felt that my body was much lighter than when I first woke up, and my spirit became more and more full, and I didn't even know when the officer's palm on my back would be withdrawn.

By the time Lu Jiayu asked Zhou Yizhi to stop, it was already twilight the next day. By this time the officer had been gone for a while, leaving them with a thousand fiats. She asked the hotel attendant to buy porridge and buns for dinner. The officer instructed her to be cautious in all areas of the Japanese puppet zone, and to seek help from his friends in case of a critical situation. And let him tell him to insist on pranayama every day, and run as many small weeks as possible when time permits, so that after becoming a habit, whether walking, eating, or sleeping, it can be uninterrupted, which is helpful to all aspects of the body. As the two of them ate, she briefly told him where the officer had come from and what he had said when he was unconscious. The officer's name is Zhang Mingyuan (2), who came from Xi'an a few decades later, and is currently a major general and brigade commander of the 51st Division Reinforcement Brigade of the 74th Army of the Chongqing Government. He didn't want to be a soldier, and he didn't want to fight, he made an exception by fighting devils, saying that he couldn't change history. Because of the introduction of his boss, he agreed to be a soldier temporarily, and he will return to the future at any time when he finds a suitable opportunity. This time I went to Nanjing to find people, and by the way, I sped on the recent movements of the Japanese army, and when I met them, I learned that the emergency military situation was going to rush back to Chongqing, and I stayed for a day and a night to save people's hearts. She didn't understand what he said came from decades later, and she didn't know who he was looking for, she told Zhou Yizhi what he said, in short, it was a coincidence that saved Zhou Yizhi's life.

The two stayed in the hotel for another night, and Zhou Yizhi's condition was much better than before. After breakfast, he called the firm, then cleaned up and checked out. There was not much time, Xu Xudong, the assistant manager of the firm, came and rented a pickup truck to take them to the firm, because the only car of the Zhou family was driven to Shanghai by Huang Chenkuan. They don't care what car they take, but they have to take the train to Shanghai when they get to the business, and he plans to send Lu Jiayu home first to talk about marriage by the way. However, Xu Xudong's "Young Master Kuan said" made him very unhappy, as if everything in the Zhou family's business had to be said by Huang Chenkuan. When asked about the business situation, Xu Xudong began to hesitate, and then asked Xing Hongying and the situation at home again into a question and didn't know, and simply bowed his head and said nothing after asking a few more questions. There must be something wrong with the two.

The two were worried that something was going on at home, so they rented a car and rushed back to Nanxun after staying in the business for long. Walking on the street, acquaintances frequently greeted each other, saying that there was a strangeness in their eyes. Their unusual yellow hair was one thing, and he still felt the talk behind him. I felt more and more that there was something going on at home, and I couldn't help but speed up my pace and go back.

When I entered the house, I felt that there was no difference from before, and the porter Sui Si was still very enthusiastic. asked him about the situation at home, and his father, second mother, wife, and children were all fine, so he was relieved. Zhou Shengping and housekeeper Wu Liu were drinking tea in the hall, and when they heard their son coming back, they hurriedly greeted them, asked them about the situation outside while walking inside, and beckoned their subordinates to clean up the room. As soon as he talked about the marriage of the two after sitting down, Huang Chenkuan came back from outside in a dusty manner, and saw Zhou Yizhi very enthusiastically, and his tone was more humble than before. At this time, Wu Liucai said that the master accepted Huang Chen Kuan as his son a few years ago, in order to make it convenient for him to help the eldest and youngest grandmothers take care of their business. Zhou Yizhi immediately understood why Xu Xudong was a young master with a wide mouthful, and guessed that he was the younger brother mentioned in Ji Tang's letter. Just about to ask him why he cooperated with the Orientals, Lu Jiayu proposed to go back and forth to Shanghai. Zhou Shengping asked her to stay for dinner, and by the way, she set a date to get married. Huang Chenkuan happily called her sister-in-law and asked them when the ceremony was appropriate and that it must be lively. Before Zhou Yizhi could speak, Wu Liu said that the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar was an auspicious day for the zodiac. Huang Chen humbly asked Zhou Shengping for his opinion, and Zhou Shengping also said that it was very good. He smiled and let Zhou Yizhi rest at ease, and the marriage was handled by him.

It was late at night when he came back from Shanghai, and when Zhou Yilu turned around and entered the hospital, he saw the light in his father's study on, so he wanted to go in and say hello. By the way, let's find out about the business situation, whether Huang Chenkuan really cooperates with the Japanese. After entering the door, he found that Wu Liu was also there, shaking a fan for Zhou Shengping while reading "The Legend of the Fengshen" (3). Zhou Shengping half lay on the recliner and closed his eyes to recuperate, and when he saw Zhou Yizhi coming in, he owed and lay down again. Say a few words casually, and when you come back, you should care more about your wife and children, take more care of your sisters, take a sip of tea, and then continue to listen to Wu Liunian's "The Legend of the Fengshen". He knew that it was inconvenient to say anything else, so he should promise to say goodnight to his father, and then go out and go back to the East Cross Courtyard where the second courtyard was entered. When she saw Lu Jiayu off in the afternoon, she said that no matter whether Huang Chenkuan controlled the business or did something unseemly, don't rush to demolish them; First observe secretly and understand from the side, and deal with it only when the evidence is conclusive and does not affect the business.

Xing Hongying and the three children didn't sleep, and they sat in the hall waiting for him. He handed his eldest son the dim sum and fish he had brought from Shanghai, smiled and asked them about their studies, and then let them go back to their rooms to rest. After the children left, he asked Xing Hongying about her current situation, greeted her parents' health, and told her about her marriage to Lu Jiayu. She replied gently, saying that Lu Jiayu should also be given a name. She mentioned handing over the accounts of the comptoir, and he smiled and said that he would wait a little longer. One is to rest for a few days to reverse jet lag, and to prepare for marriage; Moreover, his illness has not been completely cured, and even if he participates in the accounts in the future, he will have to rely on her to take care of it. After chatting for a while, he went to the study to read, and in the second half of the night he began to breathe cross-legged again.

The next morning, Zhou Yizhi washed up and saw his youngest daughter Zhou Chengjin carrying a schoolbag to school, and told the ninth sister-in-law that he would send it today. As they walked towards school, he smiled and asked her about her studies and any fun activities or things. At first she hung her head reservedly, and when she asked something, she simply nodded her head or hummed, occasionally peeking at him. When he was about to arrive at school, he was bold and asked him what foreign children looked like and what rare things they had. When she entered the school gate, she turned back and smiled at him, this should be the first time she had become an acquaintance with her father since she was ten years old. When he went home, he walked slowly along the bluestone path, looking at the big slogans in black and white on the wall, and the atmosphere of "common prosperity" and "common strength" advertised was incompatible with the hurried people on the street and the withered scene on the roadside. The green weeds and gray foam floating on the river surface under the steps are not as clear and clean as they were when they were young. These are the same as his embarrassing return to China this time, and suddenly the whole world is immersed in fog, and unpredictable dangers may occur at any time in the blurred surroundings.

After breakfast, he began to visit his relatives as he had ever returned from a long trip, from his uncles to the town's prestigious family. By the way, I told them that they would get married a few days later, and they didn't come home until dark. At this time, his father was already listening to "The Legend of the Gods" in the study of the hall, and if he wanted to talk to him alone, he could only find time again. Returning to the courtyard, Xing Hongying sat in the hall, and saw him enter the door and call the ninth sister-in-law hot soup. He told her that the people and things he had seen in the town had changed a lot since he had been in the town for many years, and that he would visit his parents-in-law and her mother-in-law and aunt the next day. After drinking the soup, he still went back to the study and sat down, read the book and wrote some words and poems, and then turned off the lights and meditated cross-legged. Recently, some poems and verses have appeared intermittently in his dreams, either the small bridge and flowing water under the moon before the flower, or the cynical and sad time, which are exactly the things that he couldn't look down on before.

In the next few days, Zhou Yizhi visited the homes of the seven aunts and eight aunts, and his cousins and friends also visited. I stay at home when I have nothing to do, sometimes I read and write, sometimes I talk with the children in the yard, and sometimes I go to the new house that is being arranged. The new house is in the northwest corner of the courtyard, next to the garden on the west side of the ancestral hall. There are eight rooms in the courtyard. On the west side facing the door is the west wing with a room, mainly to call the girl to live and put some living supplies. Below the main house are three halls divided into a living room and a study, and two bedrooms on the second floor, with an attic and a terrace above. In spring and autumn, you can sit by the attic window and read a book and enjoy the scenery, and on dog days, you can sit on the terrace to cool off. Because this is the highest point of the town, standing on the terrace of the small house, half of the Nanxun water town is in full view, and the water and green are clear at a glance.

The 9th of July is the fifth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, and the crooked crescent moon is hidden in the thin clouds. There are a few yellowish windows in the town, and a large area is pitch black, and the faces of people cannot be seen clearly on the opposite side of the black, and even the stars are so far away that it is extremely difficult to be found. Not far from the covered bridge, under the Hongji Bridge bridge, there is a small painting boat with an oilcloth shed (4). The cabin was lit with lights, and the hazy light was as weak as fireflies on the black water surface of the black bridge hole. The two shadows cast on the window lattice paper of the boat indicate that a man and a woman are sitting inside. The man's hairline is high, the hairstyle is combed back, the nose is straight, there is no beard, and the clothes are stretched and angular. The woman wears short sleeves with a round neckline, her hair is tied in a high bun and a slender metal hairpin with a chain, and between her slender eyelashes and her round nose is a silky arc that is close to perfection.

"That's not normal for you to say!" The man's voice was a little low, and his tone was tinged with a hint of anxiety, "For ten whole days, with his personality, he should go through the accounts as soon as he returns, at least go to the nearby businesses to see how the business is going." ”

"It may also be that I am in a hurry to correct the name of the second girl of the Lu family, at this time, I am afraid that I will make a fuss, maybe I will slowly calculate it after the ceremony." The woman speaks more calmly.

"Well, that's possible."

"I heard that he was sick and didn't get better, would he leave after the ceremony?"

"It's hard to say. I didn't call in advance when I came back this time, so shouldn't it be for a name? Is it pregnant? ”

"I didn't ask."

"Has there been any physical change in his body when he comes back this time? Weak? Or is it stronger? I mean that. ”

"Besides, he's been in the study?"

"Oh, is there anything special in life? Let the ninth sister-in-law pay more attention! ”

"Special—yes! The night before, I called Jin Yatou to go over and ask him to drink soup, and when I saw something bright and dangling a few times, I thought that the thing was pestering the ninth sister-in-law. She came back and said that it was actually a military uniform, which was very different from the one worn by the yellow dog at the ferry, with a neckline, pocket covers, and a few strange emblems. Could it be that he also joined some party? ”

"Eighty percent of someone else's. He has never liked to have deep friendships with people in the officialdom, let alone wading into troubled waters. ”

"Then there's nothing to worry about, what are you afraid of? The money and accounts inside and outside are in our hands, and a sick person can still turn the world around? The woman said as she picked up the cup and tested the temperature of the water, then drank it all.

"It's better to be cautious, this person has a deep city and good luck." The man poured tea for the woman and refilled it for himself. He took out a box from his pocket, took a cigarette, lit it, took two puffs, and said, "You pay more attention at home, and I will put aside the outside affairs for the time being, and I will talk about it when I find out his purpose." ”

"You-everything is better than him, but you don't have enough calm!"

"Hey, in the end, he is the main master, no matter how strong I am, I can't change this! How can I be together for so many years, I really don't want to tear my face until I have to. ”

"Okay, okay, don't worry about this, worry about that, his body won't last long."

The man nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go first, you pay more attention." After speaking, he took a sip of tea and left his seat, bent down and walked out of the cabin, straightened up, pinched his waist and spat out a white cigarette, "Lean over." ”

A gray figure stood up on the bow of the ship, propped up the penny and paddled twice, and the boat sailed out of the bridge and slowly approached the water's edge a few steps. The red dot flashed slightly, and the man said, "Okay, slow down on the road!" Lao Li, when I went back, someone asked me if I knew how to reply? ”

"The younger ones are older, and when they get confused when they walk at night, they will take a fork in the road." Said the gray shadow at the bow of the ship.

The man didn't speak, turned to go up the steps, and the sound of the leather shoes under his feet stepping on the steps became smaller and smaller. In the darkness, there was only a red dot moving, flickering and flickering, drawing an arch along the Hongji Bridge and disappearing to the south of the bridge. With the sound of the gurgling water, the boat rocked through the bridge hole, swaying three times and two times into the boundless darkness.

The sixth day of the first month of June is a good day, and the annual aunt's day meets the big Zhou family to marry. On this day, it is customary to take the married daughter home for the festival, so in the early morning, large and small boats will swim back and forth in the river. The Zhou family has changed the joyful couplet, and the courtyard is full of lights. In order to do a good job of happy events, they hung red lanterns along the street in front of their homes along the wharf to their homes, pasted big red characters, and pasted red paper on the bridgeheads, stone piers, and reels and wells. The whole water town is full of festivities.

Before dawn, the greeting team set off amid the sound of firecrackers. Huang Zhenkun, the wedding manager and best man, borrowed eight cars and two trucks from Shanghai and went straight to Shanghai because he was far away. Zhou Yizhi was wearing a brand-new gray-brown Tang costume, draped in red silk diagonally, with a large flower on his chest and small red flowers on both sides of his top hat. Since he was treated by Zhang Mingyuan in Nanjing, he has been meditating on his knees every day when he sleeps, and his mental state is very different from before. Although he tries to show his morbid appearance in front of people, the full Yin Tang is ruddy and shiny, and the dark eyes of the bright eyes shine under the slightly squinted eyelashes.

Master Zhou, Zhou Shengping, dressed in new clothes and hats, was full of spring breeze, and walked back and forth in the courtyard accompanied by the housekeeper Wu Liu. When a guest comes, he will greet him, and if there is no guest, he will look east and west, and feel that everything is particularly bright. There is a ceremonial table next to the shadow wall inside the door, and Zhou Shunping, the second master of the Zhou family, and Guo Chengcai, the account room, sit behind the table, keeping accounts and receiving gifts. There were a few young men next to him who were in charge of laying the shots. There were more people standing outside the gate, led by the fifth master Zhou Maoping, Huang Youfu, and the porter Sui, and the young and old seventeen or eighteen. They are responsible for receiving guests from all walks of life, separating relatives and estranged people from close to the inside. The important ones brought into the front hall were greeted by Zhou Shengping, and the secondary ones brought into the east and west courtyards were entertained by the third master Zhou Changping and the fourth master Zhou Fuping. The female guest was let into the second courtyard, and the eldest young lady Xing Hongying and the two young ladies Zhou Qiongzhi and Zhou Yaozhi, as well as a few uncles and sisters greeted there.

When the convoy returned, it stopped at the big pier and changed to a flower boat amid the sound of firecrackers. The parking place is far from the bow of the boat, according to the tradition, the bride does not enter the door of the mother-in-law's front foot can not touch the ground, get off the car and get off the boat have to be carried by the groom. But everyone knows that the eldest young master has been weak since he was a child, and the distance is short when he gets in the car, and he only supports it at his mother's house, so Huang Zhenkun has already arranged someone to replace him. Zhou Yizhi smiled and refused the man's kindness, and said half-jokingly: "It's worth it to die of exhaustion on this errand, you have to do it yourself!" Lu Jiayu, who seemed to be struggling to carry a red shirt, a red shirt and a red hijab, had nearly 200 meters from getting off the bus to getting on the boat, and there were still some steps in one go. Although he walked a little staggering, his face was not red and he was not panting. Not to mention the surprise of the people present, even the bride on her back quietly looked through the hijab, for fear of tiring him. In fact, he himself didn't feel tired, and he was full of energy in the middle of the morning when he wore a belt on a hot day, and he had never felt this kind of feeling.

More than a dozen flower boats lined up in front and back, slowly driving along the river, those who went to the door to visit relatives all stopped to watch, and there were many people on the shore who loved to be lively. The first one is a band beating gongs and blowing trumpets, the second is the painting boat of the bride and groom, followed by the relatives of the Lu family who send off their relatives, and the wedding procession is lined up in the back with dowries. There are more people entering East Street, on the roadside, under the eaves, at the bridgehead, and some poke their heads out of the back window. Whether you know each other or not, everyone knows that the groom is the eldest young master of the Zhou family. There are those who talk about the background of the new aunt's wife, there are also rare rich dowries on the back boat, and some children run along the ditch to chase the fleet. Inside and outside the gate of the Zhou family, there are crowds of people, the old and the young are bustling, and the strong smell of firecrackers and smoke cannot be dispersed. I want to see the bride under the hijab.

Weddings in Jiangnan are exquisite, especially for such famous families. When you enter the gate, and what point you pinch to worship the church, they are all quite fine (5). Zhou Yizhi's worship ceremony lasted for an hour, worshipping heaven and earth, worshipping his parents, and worshipping his elders, and after knocking his head down, not only his head was full of sweat, but his legs were bent. As soon as Lu Jiayu was sent into the attic of the backyard, the wedding banquet began, and he continued to toast the guests. It wasn't until eight o'clock in the evening that the last wave of guests was sent off. But the day's affairs are not over, Huang Zhenkun and those uncles and brothers who have helped for a day have not eaten the wedding wine, he has to thank the wine and eat something with him.

After sending everyone away and drinking the soup that Xing Hongying asked the ninth sister-in-law to serve, it was already ten o'clock in the evening. The old mother, Ah Gui, accompanied him back to the new house and watched the newcomer drink the wine and leave. He sat down completely relaxed and chatted with Lu Jiayu for a while about how he felt about the day. Tired is not particularly tired, the biggest feeling is that many VIPs he does not know. There were many officials and wealthy businessmen from Nanjing and Shanghai, and he only knew one Zhou Ying, and he was still a one-sided relationship, and the then director of the transportation bureau had become an important member of the Ministry of Finance of the Wang puppet regime. There are also a few who are obviously Japanese, and although he is not happy to see them, he is not good at showing them in public, at least not until he regains sovereignty. Huang Zhenkun and Xing Hongying were very familiar with those people, and they clinked glasses from time to time to persuade them to drink. Another thing that made him feel uneasy was that his younger brother Zhou Zhuozhi still did not appear. When he was toasting, he saw everyone in the family and couldn't help but ask where his second uncle Zhuozhi was. Wu Liu suddenly said that the third uncle was looking for him, and when he turned around, he found that the second uncle's face was a little unnatural. As always, she comforted him that there was always a process to everything. As long as they persevere, one day the clouds will clear. He also knew that at this time, there was no other way but to wait, just like his intermittent dreams, he could not change it but accept it. In the process of waiting for relief, it is not bad to learn to appreciate, whether it brings joy, sorrow, or tears.

Note: (1) The original meaning refers to the rotation of the earth for one week, and was later extended to the Neidan technique, which refers to the internal qi circulating in the body along the Ren and Du two veins for a week. (2) Zhang Mingyuan is a legendary figure, he was originally a modern man in the 21st century, and accidentally traveled to the Northern Song Dynasty and then to the Republic of China. In him there is the open-mindedness of modern people and the traditions of ancient people. The character has the full storyline in the novel "Love's Theme Song: Exclusive Memory". (3) The Chinese gods and demons novels written by Chen Zhonglin of the Ming Dynasty, similar to other versions, such as "Wuwang Van 纣外史" and "Fengshen Romance" (4) huà fǎng, which refers to a beautifully decorated and beautiful cruise ship. (5) It means delicate and meticulous.